Valkyries
The Valkyries 'are the female warriors responsible for taking warriors to the Valhalla upon their death in the mortal realm. One of the Valkyries is described as having a beautiful long braided hair, carrying a shiny sword and a shield. Norse Mythology In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who choose those who may die in battle and those who may live. Selecting among half of those who die in battle (the other half go to the goddess Freya's afterlife field ''Fólkvangr), the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin. There, the deceased warriors become einherjar. When the einherjar are not preparing for the events of Ragnarök, the valkyries bear them mead. Valkyries also appear as lovers of heroes and other mortals, where they are sometimes described as the daughters of royalty, sometimes accompanied by ravens and sometimes connected to swans or horses. Known Valkyries include: , , Eir, , Göndul, Gunnr, , , , Hildr, , , Kára, , , Róta, , Sigrún, and , , , and . In the God of War series The Valkyries are servants of Odin, set to choose half of the warriors killed in battle to take them to Valhalla, where every warrior fights and feasts until the day of Ragnarök. If a warrior declines the call of the Valkyrie and engages her in battle, the warrior will be burnt by the intensity of the fight and be doomed to forever roam the mortal realm as a Draugr. ''God of War'' (2018) The Valkyries encountered in the game have become corrupted by a curse. It is up to Kratos and Atreus to defeat them in order to lift that curse. This curse was later revealed to have been cast by Odin out of spite for Freya abandoning him. The curse forces the Valkyries to remain in a physical form, which is an unnatural state to Valkyries. Prolonged stay in a physical form drives Valkyries to insanity, with the only way to free them is to kill the physical form. The Valkyrie Queen Sigrún was forced to seal away the Valkyries to prevent their insanity from causing unnecessary destruction. But later, the Valkyries are liberated from their physical form when Kratos killed them as well taking their helms. For Kratos and Atreus freed the Valkyries, they blessed the Spartan and his son the eternal gratitude. Side Quest Out of all the boss fights in the game, the Valkyries are considered the most dangerous, surpassing even Baldur with his infamous invulnerability in terms of difficulty. The Valkyries are a side-quest of the game and there are nine different locations to find them. The first eight locations are revealed upon completing the main story but can still be accessed by discovering them. You will also need the Chisel to unlock the Hidden Chambers of Odin and six of the Valkyries, which is obtained during the story. It is recommended to complete the main journey before fighting them as they are powerful warriors. The ninth Valkyrie location can only be accessed once you’ve defeated the other eight and taken their helmets to the Council of Valkyries, on the north side of Lake of Nine. This will summon the Valkyrie Queen. Each Valkyrie in God of War has its own fighting style and you’ll need to adapt accordingly. They all have high resistance and are resistant to burn, frost, shock, weaken and rage. Be ready for a long, drawn-out fight. The Valkyries '''Gunnr Gunnr is a Blade User, whose specialty is using her wings and scythe to fight and cut you. She has four normal attacks. She is located in a Hidden Chamber of Odin near Thamur's Corpse in Midgard. Geirdriful Geirdriful is a Shooter Valkyrie located in a Hidden Chamber of Odin at The Foothills in Midgard. She can cause an frost eruption (an area attack). She is also capable of grappling (but it's not nearly as devastating as Rota) and launching different types of projectiles. Eir Eir is a Defender Valkyrie located in The Mountain in Midgard. She will use her wings/shield to block your attacks and use her mace to hit you with an area of effect attack and blind you with light. In the air she will use her scythe and dash at you. Kara She is a Summoner Valkyrie who is located in the Hidden Chamber of Odin near The River Pass in Midgard. She may be the easiest Valkyrie in the game and fighting her is a good way to check if you have the equipment to attack the other ones. She utilizes spikes and lightning-fast disk projectiles. She is also the only Valkyrie who summons Draugr to aid her in combat. Rota Rota is a Grappler Valkyrie located in a Hidden Chamber of Odin in Helheim. She will yell before hurling herself at you to grapple you and deal heavy damage, either from the front or from the sky. She has an additional spinning attack she charges before launching it towards you. Olrun Olrun is a Dodger Valkyrie located in Alfheim. She is one of the quicker Valkyries and has many unblockable moves that can do devastating damage. She spins to throw multiple feathers at you, dash at you to spin or attack normally. She can also fall from the sky on you in the same way as Rota. As she is really nimble you will have difficulties touching her. Prepare for a long battle, if you do not have the required damage to finish her. Gondul She is a Fire Valkyrie who is the main focus of Trial VI (the summit of the volcano) on Muspelheim. She can attack by causing lava eruptions on the arena. Her fire attacks explode and leave a temporary area setting you in flames. She also uses some of the other Valkyries' moves such as: the grappling by falling from the sky, an area-of-effect attack and hitting directly with a mace, spinning and dashing at the player after dodging an attack. Hildr She is a Frost Valkyrie who is located within the labyrinth on Niflheim. She can attack by launching an array of ice shards, which will inflict Frost damage. The battle against her takes place within the cursed mist. Sigrún, The Valkyrie Queen Sigrún, The Valkyrie Queen, can be battled at The Council of the Valkyries once all eight of the other Valkyrie helms have been placed on the thrones at the said location. Once all helms are placed, a Realm Tear will appear at the center of the location. Interacting with this Realm Tear will immediately initiate the battle against the Queen. She has every move the other eight warriors did, except for the summoning ability. In addition to this, all of her abilities are empowered and do significantly more damage than their counterparts. The battle is difficult as she's unpredictable and can kill you in one hit even in the lower difficulties. Defeating her will grant you the trophy "Chooser of the Slain". [[Freya|'Freya']], The Former Valkyrie Queen Freya, the original Queen of the Valkyries, presumably handed the title over to Sigrun sometime prior to her marriage with Odin. But she was banished to Midgard and got her wings severed by her ex-husband, Odin. After her estranged son, Baldur died, Freya seeks to where Odin kept her wings to regain her warrior spirit for her attempt revenge on Kratos. Trivia *The word "Valkyrie" comes from the Old Norse "valkyrja", meaning "Chooser of the slain". *Sigrún was later reborn as Kara in the Edda poem Helgakviða Hundingsbana, yet here they are two different Valkyries. *It seems that Valkyries, in terms of combat, are much less powerful in spiritual form than they are in physical form. This can be seen as in The Lost Pages of Norse Mythology, a mere mortal man is able to put up a decent fight against a Valkyrie in spiritual form while Kratos, the Greek God of War, experiences difficulty against the same Valkyrie in physical form. *It seems the Valkyries can split their souls, as eight of them was able to impart some of it into their physical helmet, allowing one to reunite the council and summon the Valkyrie Queen without disrupting the Valkyries work to guide souls into Valhalla. *All Valkyries have mastered the use of Bifröst, allowing them to summon weapons from different realms.Creating Valkyries This also might be what allowed them to hurl fireballs, fire icicles, travel the realms and retrieve souls of those who died in battle. *All the Valkyries armor design are based on different real animals, with the only exception of the armour of Sigrún, which is based on a dragon.The Art of God of War *Sigruns plan to imprison the Valkyries in Odin's hidden chambers was botched once when an unlucky dwarf stumbled onto one of the chambers looking for treasure only to be killed by the Valkyrie trapped their and nearly lead to her escape. According to the scroll he left behind the jailor no doubt Sigrun came and took the valkyrie to another realm either Muspelheim or Niflheim meaning the valkyrie taken was either Gondul or Hildr. Gallery Sigrun - Valkyrie Queen.jpg Liberated.jpg Fire.jpg Valkyrie Queen entrance.jpg god-of-war-ps4-eir.jpg|Kratos with the remain of Eir. Kratos with the remain of Hildr.jpg|Kratos with the remain of Hildr. __STATICREDIRECT__ valkyrie1.jpg valkyrie2.jpg valkyrie3.jpg Reference Category:Norse Mythology Category:Warriors Category:Females Category:God of War (2018) Category:God of War (2018) Enemies Category:God of War (2018) Bosses Category:Valkyries Category:Species Category:Immortals Category:Norse Goddesses